This podcast details true crime cases.

It contains adult themes and may contain descriptions of violence.

It is not intended for children.

Listener discretion is advised. Thank you for joining me for today's episode of Once Upon a Crime.

When it becomes clear that there's overwhelming evidence of a person's guilt in the commission of a heinous crime,

the defense team may decide their best bet to defend their client

is to come up with a creative excuse

for the accused's actions. I visited this topic before when I detailed cases in

which the perpetrator denied they should be held legally responsible

with excuses that varied from they were sleepwalking at the time of the offense,

or their privileged upbringing kept them from learning right from wrong,

or even that they were under the influence of Twinkies, yes, the junk food snack cake, which

caused them to lose all reason.

While these types of defenses receive an A for effort in the courtroom, there is one type of creative

defense that never fails to fascinate when the accused claims their crimes were committed

while possessed by a demon or even Satan himself. This defense is not as rare as you may

think. I found several interesting cases employing this strategy in the courtroom.

Since this is October, the spookiest month of the year, I thought I'd bring a couple of these stories

to you in a series I've titled, The Devil Made Me Do It.

In this first episode, a teenager takes the life of family members as well as a random stranger,

and then claims his involvement in satanic rituals led him to murder.

Was 16-year-old Sean Sellers demon possessed, mentally ill, or simply a cold-blooded

...